In the food service industry, including restaurants, cafeterias, cafes, pizzerias, convenience stores, ‘Drive Thru’, ‘Take-Out’, or ‘Quick-Stop’ markets, and the like, it is customary to provide customers with certain food-items served on some kind of plate or tray. Typically, such plates or trays are made out of a paper or plastic material that is preferably rigid enough to support the item(s) of food being served. With certain types of foods it would be advantageous to have plates or trays that, in addition to being rigid enough to support the weight of served food, could also be selectively bent by the customer to improve the ease of eating the served food. To some degree, efforts along these lines have been attempted, but the results have been unsatisfactory.
For the purpose of describing the present invention, the food serving apparatus will be illustrated as a pizza slice plate or tray, however it is to be noted that the utility of the proposed invention is applicable to numerous types of foods, each of which, can be served on trays or plates having similar features and functionality.
Conventionally, a slice of pizza is typically served on a disposable plate or tray. During the eating of the pizza, it is picked up and returned to the same plate, a number of times. If the food is too hot, a customer can easily burn his or her mouth on the food, or the hot pizza ingredients can easily slide off of the pizza slice. Additionally, the repeated handling of such foods can quickly make one's hands or fingers very greasy. If there is an abundance of cheese, sauce, or other ingredients, the pizza can bend from its own weight and tend to come apart, making the eating process a much messier one than is necessary. Many establishments serving pizza provide customers with a stack of napkins to compensate for such problems.
To address such concerns, several food-serving products have been tried. For example, pizza slice-shaped plates and trays have been used. One approach has provided a type of flat pizza tray which is sized approximately to the length, width and shape of a pizza slice intended to be served on the tray. The planar tray is made out of a corrugated cardboard having corrugated flutes that run perpendicular to the length of a pizza slice resting on the tray. At various points along the length of the tray, a reduced cross-section, or score, aligned with the flutes, is formed into the tray to allow the customer to bend a tray in segments. Beginning nearest to the tip of the pizza, the customer bends each segment downward and away from the pizza slice as the pizza is being eaten. While the bending aspect of this approach offers a folding feature, the planar-tray approach has several shortcomings. First, several types of pizza are heavy for their size and the weight of such pizza can easily cause the tray to inadvertently collapse along its length which, either spills the pizza from the tray, or causes pizza ingredients to spill off of the pizza slice. To counter the lack of sufficient rigidity, trays can be made thicker, but the added material (e.g. thicker paper, plastic or corrugated material) adds to the cost of the tray. Another problem with the flat tray approach is that the trays, in order to minimize the amount of paper used, are typically so closely sized to a pizza slice being served on them that it is quite easy for the pizza slice to become misaligned on the flat tray and when the tray is set down. When misalignment occurs, the pizza slice can easily contact surfaces, such as public surfaces, that are unsanitary. Such trays can also be set down on furniture, for example in a customer's home, or on a car seat, and the misaligned pizza can contact such surfaces causing unnecessary stains, or messes. These types of trays, once bent, do not readily regain an unbent, or previously supportive condition, and are therefore not suitable for re-use, for example, in serving a second or third slice of pizza. Also, the planar pizza slice tray approach does not lend itself to a convenient self-containment of pizza slices, for example to fold into the shape of a box suitable for transporting a pizza slice from a pizzeria to another location.
Some food serving trays and plates being offered, have a flat food-supporting member and one or more side rails that extend upward relative to a food-supporting member. Although the design of such trays and plates are effective in keeping one or more food item from sliding off, or from becoming misaligned, none of them offer the means to bend the trays or plates, or segments thereof, away from the served food while eating, unless they substantially alter the appearance and presentation of the served food (for example, folding the food in half on itself). With the latter exception, such trays and plates don't provide a way to maintain tray or plate rigidity until such time when a bending of the food-serving apparatus is desired; or to provide a way to unbend such plates after they've been bent, in a way that returns them to, or near to, their original food-supporting condition; or, cannot readily regain an unbent shape to accommodate re-use of the tray or plate for second or subsequent servings. In other words, once such trays or plates are bent by a user, they either significantly and irreversibly alter the appearance of the food (collapsing it upon itself), or lose their original rigidity and thus the ability to support the served food properly thereafter.
More typically, a slice of pizza is served on a plate that is not optimized for the size and shape, or weight of the pizza, or plates that are too thin tend to collapse under the weight and size of the pizza, and many napkins are used along with such plate as a user tries to control the pizza slice and eat the pizza in a two-handed operation. In such cases, much more paper will be used than is necessary. Similarly, more paper use is required when plates that are too flimsy need to be stacked on one another to provide enough rigidity to support the food being served.
None of the status quo approaches offer the means to selectively bend the trays or plates, or segments thereof, away from the served food while eating in a manner that preserves the presentation of the served food and maintains tray or plate rigidity until such time when a bending of the food-serving apparatus is desired. Such plates or trays still require a user to lift the pizza out of the food serving apparatus a number of times in order to eat the food.
A apparatus similar in appearance to the present invention is comprised of a plurality of materials and requires a user to physically collapse the pizza upon itself, along its length, such that the pizza is fully enclosed within the food serving apparatus and the pizza is revealed as segments of the plate are torn away from the encased folded food, to expose portions thereof that can be bitten. This approach completely alters the normal appearance and presentation of the food and leaves the user, when the slice of pizza has been consumed, with a plate that has literally been torn to pieces, making cleanup more difficult and forfeiting any convenient option to re-use the plate. The numerous plate pieces are quite likely to be coated with pizza sauce and/or other pizza ingredients and each will need to be picked up by the user in order to not pose a litter problem. If the user eats several slices of pizza, then the problems of the remaining plate pieces multiplies.
Consequently, there is a need for improved food-serving apparatus that address the shortcomings of the status quo, that provide a means to eat certain foods: with a one-handed ease of use; with a portability or transportability, or drive-as-you-eat convenience; similar to that offered with hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, tacos, and the like.
Furthermore, food-serving apparatus to date, have not proved optimal in their application as, or conversion into, one or more types of recreational apparatus, or one or more types of exhibiting or display means. Typically such paper or plastic goods are simply thrown away. Food-serving goods that do have printed content or indicia, are not placed on the goods in a manner where they are easily read or discerned as a user is eating, or about to eat, a food item. While the lid of a beverage can or cup may have some type of user readable or discernable content, there are other limitations to the type of exposure that can occur with a beverage serving apparatus. Firstly, a beverage is typically imbibed very intermittently and for very short periods at a time. Secondly, the brief exposure to a lid or can top can be so close to one's eyes that it is often, or can easily be, completely out of focus.
Coffee cup sleeves have become a popular advertising food-service medium, nonetheless, their ad content is not in a user's field of view when the user is drinking, and only a fraction of the sleeve's circumference is viewable to the user at any given time, including limited portions thereof that in themselves, may not make any sense to the user. By contrast, the present invention, offers an improved food-service advertising medium offering increased discernible-content exposure times relative to those offered by;                a.) status quo food-serving apparatus,        b.) status quo beverage-serving apparatus, and        c.) advertising sleeves which slideably fit on beverage-serving apparatus such as sleeves for beverage cans and cups or coffee cups.        
In the latter two cases (“b” and “c”), increases in discernible-content exposure times; increases in sustained, close-proximity exposure times; and, increases in content exposure times during hand-to-mouth movements; are achieved by MPFSA relative to beverage-serving apparatus and the advertising sleeves, and unlike the needs pertaining to sleeve ad-use accounting, the MPFSA has no requirement for a substantial number of personnel needed to constantly travel among thousands of food-service venues to verify and ensure that the paid-for ads on the sleeves are actually being used, i.e. slid onto the cups serving beverages. It is noted herein, that the discernible-content of the MPFSA is an integral part of the apparatus and therefore requires no ensuring or verification of use (a food-service apparatus supplier simply verifies that the number of MPFSA ordered and/or shipped for a given time and given venue, or chain of venues, is proportionate to a number units typically needed for such a period and number of venues). It is also noted that during the process of eating one or more MPFSA-served food-items, much of the discernible content appearing on a MPFSA can easily remain in the field of view of the user, and can be inclusive enough in content and context to have coherence and make sense to the user. In contrast, a coffee sleeve rarely has a message that is completely coherent from all surrounding viewpoints.
In contrast to “status quo food-serving apparatus” (“a” above), the present invention, offers a means for food-service apparatus/paper suppliers to substantially increase, what has historically been low, commodity types of profit margins for food-service paper goods and the like, by supplementing food-serving apparatus sales with significant advertising revenues.
By contrast, eating one or more items of food is a much slower process than drinking, especially if the food is fairly lightweight and can easily be held by one of the user's hands, and therefore an opportunity to offer a new type of food-serving apparatus having optional exhibiting means on one or more visible surface of the apparatus is practicable for displaying user readable or user-discernable content thereon which is easily seen before, during and after the user eats the served food. For example, one slice of pizza, depending on the size, takes approximately five to ten minutes to eat. If the user has a comfortable, light-weight, compact apparatus to support the pizza slice, it is very likely that the apparatus will be held in close proximity to the user's field of view during much of the time needed to eat the slice. Furthermore, such sustained exposure(s) to the content(s) can be amplified when a user eats food which uncovers more viewable content(s) on the apparatus food-supporting surface and/or bends segments of that surface in a manner that such content, or content on the bottom of such segments, become easily viewed by those in close proximity to the user.
Thus there is a need for improved food-serving apparatus that address the deficiencies of the status quo. The purpose of the present invention is to provide improved food-serving apparatus which eliminate the shortcomings detailed above and that offer a number of distinct advantages. Therefore several objects of the present invention can be put into practice, which will provide:
a view-as-you-eat and/or folds-as-you-eat multi-purpose food-serving apparatus (‘MPFSA’) that provides a cleaner way of eating food, more specifically, one not requiring a user to pick up one or more food-items from a plate or tray during an eating process, or requiring the user to arrange and/or re-arrange the food-item(s) with his or her fingers during the eating process. Thus a primary of object of the invention is to provide a food-serving apparatus that minimizes, or eliminates, the contacting of a user's fingers with food-item(s), particularly food items such as a pizza slice which normally requires numerous cycles of lifting and setting down the pizza in a plate or tray during the process of eating one or more slices of pizza, which can be very hazardous if one is attempting to do this while driving a vehicle.
MPFSA that provide a similar one-handed ease-of-handling, method of eating, portability, transportability and drive-as-you-eat convenience usually associated with foods such as hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, tacos, and the like; to served food-items which historically have not been associated with such advantages, and typically require two-handed eating, such as pizza slices and an assortment of other food-items described in this specification.
MPFSA that provide a means for paper suppliers to substantially increase what has historically been commodity types of margins by combining or supplementing food-serving apparatus sales with advertising revenues.
MPFSA that are employable as, or convertible into, one or more type of: recreational apparatus; toy; exhibiting means; or display means.
MPFSA that increase food sanitation particularly in public places.
MPFSA that improve the customer experience and customer service of those using food-serving apparatus.
MPFSA that reduce the likelihood of stains.
MPFSA providing an improved food-service advertising medium providing increases in sustained discernible-content exposure time and a closer proximity to such exposures, relative to status quo food-serving apparatus, beverage-serving apparatus, and beverage cup or can sleeve advertising media. And in the latter case, no requirement of substantial personnel to constantly travel among thousands of food-service venues in order to ensure that paid ads on the sleeves are actually being slid onto cups.
MPFSA that are employable as, or convertible into, one or more type of recreational apparatus and indicia/viewable content exhibiting means.
MPFSA that provides a one-handed eating, portability, or transportability, or drive-as-you-eat, experience and convenience similar to that of a sandwich, or hamburger, or hot dog, or taco, and the like, and formerly not available to food-items generally eaten with two hands such as a pizza slice, and making practicable the serving of food-items of the latter type to motorists from take-out, or ‘Drive-Thru’, windows, or from other establishments such as convenience stores, gas station markets, ‘Quick-Stop’ stores, and the like, designed to serve the needs of motorists on the go.
MPFSA providing improved food-serving apparatus shaping to facilitate rapid shaping of MPFSA as needed to quickly set them down in an unbent condition, or quickly resume an eating process by returning the apparatus to a former bent condition. An apparatus rigidity and selective pliability provides for repeated bendings and for returning the apparatus to a near original unbent condition by recreasing the apparatus such that at least one food-retaining portion(s) is substantially returned to its original upward extending position.
multi-purpose serving trays or plates having sufficient rigidity to serve and support food items such as pizza and the like, such that a user can readily hold the apparatus in one hand while eating or in between bites, and/or while holding a drink, or napkin, or phone, or other object in the other hand, including doing so while seated, driving a vehicle, or while walking.
multi-purpose serving trays or plates having sufficient rigidity to serve and support one or more items of food until a time when a user can selectively bend one or more segment(s) of a food-serving apparatus away from the served food to facilitate the eating of the food and an apparatus that conveniently and easily regains its shape when placed in a resting position on a flat surface, and can regain its original serving shape with sufficient rigidity to support the served food or subsequent serving of additional food item(s).
multi-purpose serving trays or plates having sufficient rigidity to serve and support one or more items of food until a user selectively bends the combination of one or more tray or plate bendable cross-sections and one or more tray or plate foldable joints to bend segment(s) of a food-serving apparatus away from the served food to facilitate the eating of the food.
multi-purpose serving trays or plates having sufficient rigidity to serve as a self-standing display or self-supporting display.
multi-purpose food-serving trays or plates offering improved protection from unsanitary public or domestic surfaces when the trays or plates are set down on such surfaces.
multi-purpose food-serving trays or plates that can be easily boxed, or enclosed within a lid and subsequently used, when the lid is opened or separated, as a tray or plate.
multi-purpose economical food serving apparatus having a price similar to other apparatus designed to serve the same food but requiring substantially less material due to the shaping of the tray to the shape of the food item expected, or designed, to be served thereon.
multi-purpose economical food serving apparatus having a locking lid, or clamshell configuration wherein one or more napkins are also included with the apparatus package, or wherein a multi-purpose food-serving apparatus is easily stacked for food-service operations.
These and other objects will be elaborated upon in the detailed descriptions below.